Had a wonderful nearly 24 hours here with Murray and Adrienne. I even charged up the battery in my camera then totally forgot about it so no pictures, dang. Dave Sorensen joined us for dinner and laughs, too. Then, everyone dragging tired but Dave (he did have a bit of a drive home), we hit the hay pretty late and woke up late. ha. My fabulous breakfast cooking skills brought us oatmeal….who could want for more? Well Murray and Adrienne had a bit of room left for their toast and that salt stuff, Vegemite. ha again.

Will miss those two for sure.

Once back to ‘normal’ life, I found all the food they left in our fridge, not to mention vino and milk…. Thanks, kids! Then to the studio to refinish my latest HIGH DESERT HAIKU, using a bit of the Australian Red Gold ms. Adrienne left me, too. Thanks again.

I have not so much to say re: meself, but I do have a funny article written by friend/author Todd Walton. He used one of my latest paintings to ‘illustrate’ it. Dang…I see I cannot load it as a visual….so please click on the below then click on the next thing they show. Worth it, we laughed aloud 4 times while reading it.

Today is the day when my man arrives in New Mexico! Only a few hours to go and I am on my way to the airport to meet him. It has been 7 weeks! Far too long….

Yesterday I had the most amazing three hours with Ouida Touchon, a local printmaker. Ouida taught me Chine Colle which will take my collages in a whole new direction.

But today is also the day when I officially end my Artist Residency.From now on I am a tourist enjoying the sights and arts in Las Cruces. Tomorrow I am making the rounds with Phil to say Goodbye to some special people I met, pick up my artwork I bought from Art Obscura, call into some galleries I missed and show Phil where I spent my time whilst in LC and where to get the best coffees and Margaritas.

Tonight our hosts Dick and Sherry invited us over for Dinner, tomorrow we might pop by the Postcard Exhibition at NMSU (and hopefully my donated artworks raise some money) and then it’s all about Dia de Los Muertos – the highlight of my stay in LC, oh, did I mention I went to Paul Taylor’s house and was blown away by his art collection and what an interesting man he is!

I must admit, this artist residency was quite an eye opener for me. I didn’t quite know what to expect when I first applied and would I do it again? Yes, but probably approach it differently. I learnt heaps about myself, had my ups and downs but then I met all those amazing people who made it all worthwhile. I will take some amazing experiences home with me which will definitely influence my future artworks, so stay tuned 🙂

The next two weeks will be all about Phil. It’s his well deserved holiday after running the shop 7 weeks without me but I think he knows now what I actually do, not “just floating around” as he likes to describe it. I think we’ll appreciate each other more after this trip. Having said that….I know there’s a Frank Stella exhibition at the Whitney Museum just opening, and there’s more to see at the MET and there’s the Chicago Institute of Art,…. and lots of coffee shops, etc for Phil haha.

Or ‘Scratching the surface’ as we make our way and the back roads toward Hillsboro and the Winkler retreat.
Thanks Dave for the tip to visit Tent Rocks National Monument outside Santa Fe: amazing layer patterning.

Little abstract compositions everywhere. Clever Mother Nature.

And who’s a happy penguin to be in Santa Fe?

A town the size of Bundaberg with 250+ private galleries plus many public museums, and said to still be the third largest art market after NY and LA. Some art leaves a few of us perplexed…

A gallery I visited two years ago near the Railyard district, Lew Allen Galleries, is still stunning. Plus slightly overwhelming and heartening at the same time – both via the work and the juicy prices.
Carey and Nolan told me about abstract artist Sammy Peters last project and seeing his work close up again is so informative. The surface grounds, working, layering. Sigh. This detail from Celebration: Confirming; Enigma 2013, 30in x 48in.

Other Santa Fe treasures include a visit to Alex’s home and studio and a wonderful night there with he and his Nearest. Thanks to you both for a beautiful meal and many great words. I’m sure we’ll meet again somehow.

And Jenny, some fine chili roasting at the Railyard Farmers Markets – this guy had all the lines including It’s Santa Fe aromatherapy day. We nearly burnt out heads off eating roasted chilies last night.

Saturday was an emotional day. As we celebrated the final weekend of WBHDII, we hosted a very special event with the Bundaberg Writers Club called Blue Sky Talkin’. The writers had visited the exhibition previously then gone away and pondered the art they had encountered. They generously shared their thoughts and words with us. And wow! I was really touched that the exhibition had been a catalyst for so many responses. Poetry, prose, memories, song, the beginnings of a novel (yes 30,000 words have already been written!) have all sprung forth.

A big thanks to Di Esmond of the BWC for organising. Di and I will be sharing the written responses through this blog soon, as I know all the artists will enjoy reading how their artwork inspired these creative minds! So stay tuned I will post them soon.

In the meantime I wanted to share one of the highlights of the day which was a song written and performed by Brett. Though he hadn’t written a song in years, he was so inspired by Christine Turner’s Big Sky Dreaming that he wrote and performed his own Big Sky Dreaming.

The day was really moving for me as it made me realise that the ripple effect of WBHD has been bigger and more varied than I had anticipated. Thanks to everyone who has participated and supported – it has been a pleasure to get to know you all, and watch you all generously share your creativity with each other and our communities.

Our exhibition might be closed but my artist residency is still going strong and I decided to bore you with my adventures (including NY, Chicago and Las Vegas) until I get home on 15th November and I am sure you do want to see Phil in his Elvis jumper all over the US! After that I might start my own blog (which is already set up) or just use facebook or email. I do hope we’ll keep in touch!

Since my last blog I have been quite busy. I already had a sneek peak of the Postcard Show at NMSU, met with the talented (and I mean super genius talented) Bob Diven, met Jo Rango at our Lync Session which unfortunately didn’t happen, but then ended up even better with Jaqulin, Jo , Virginia, Catherine and me chatting for about two hours, got an insight in local American politics thanks to Dick and Sherry who took me to the Progressive Voters Alliance meeting where I shook hands with Mayor Ken, went to Mesilla where I explored San Albino cemetery, went to the movies twice (great what you can do when on holiday, make spur of the moment decisions – Bridge of Spies & The Martian), had my last stint at Mas Art, had dinner with Raul and Tauna where I met the lovely Sherry Carter and spent three hours drawing with Jean this morning. Phew….that’s quite a lot in a few days if I say so myself and I was concerned of being lonely! Ha, not a chance.

I am still on the look out for murals and while doing that other interesting subjects pop up in front of my camera.

San Albino cemetery in Mesilla was well worth a visit!

I have taken so many photos ….they’ll all get put to good use!

During the last few days I came up with a plan what I am going to work on when I come home to Bundy and I can’t wait to start. First of all, I will find myself a mentor and I do already know who I am going to approach. Let’s see if this will all work out.

But first of all, only 3 days to go until Phil gets here. There’s so much I want to show him and then we’ll immerse ourselves into the Day of the Dead celebrations. The highlight of my time here? Not sure yet, honestly, there are too many!

I donated my two paintings from our exhibition to the Art Department at NMSU and they will go into a silent auction during the postcard exhibition. I hope they will raise some needed money for the Art Department. Fingers crossed.

Found that cow sculpture on my way to the cemetery in Mesilla.

Did some drawing with Jean this morning and loved it. Jean has got the most amazings props including lots of rabbits.